Page 78 of Elanie & the Empath
“You’re beautiful too.” I placed my hand on his chest. “Your skin reminds me of the sky. Sometimes it’s so light, like dawn right before the sun rises. Sometimes it’s so dark it’s like a thunderstorm.” I slid my hand behind his neck, my fingers playing in the soft, silver hair that had grown long enough to curl at the ends. “But most of the time, it’s this bright, vibrant color. Like the perfect blue-sky day. That’s you, Sem. A cloudless sky.”
“Elanie?” His eyes went a bit wider. “Did you just make a metaphor?”
“Bionics can make metaphors,” I said with a pout. “Some bionics are very poetic.”
He buried his face in my neck, and I felt his lips curl upward against my skin. “I’ve just never heardyoumake one.” Pulling away after a soft kiss, he brushed my hair back over my shoulders. “How are you? Are you sore?” His gaze dropped. “Are you still okay with what happened last night?”
My head tilted. “Okay? What do you mean?”
He tensed. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember. I know we were messed up, but?—”
I burst into laughter, burying my face in his neck this time.
“Elanie? Talk to me.” There was a nervous edge to his voice. “You remember, right? Right?”
“I remember, and I’m not sore.”
“Thank the Saints,” he breathed, his hands closing around my hips. “So no regrets?”
“No.” I leaned back. “Why? Do you have regrets?”
“Hells no.And I’ll do it again right now just to prove it to you.”
Laughing again, I kissed him while he pulled me in close, his fingers skimming my waistband. “Actually,” I said when his hands slid inside my pants to cup my behind, “I think a little proof is necessary sometimes.”
“Oh, I can provide evidence.” He pulled, rocking me against him, already hard. “I’ll give you all the evidence you want. Beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
“That’s good.” I undid the tie of his pants and eased my hand inside, wrapping my fingers around his erection. “Bionics aren’t easy to convince.” His eyes closed when I stroked him from base to tip. “We requirelotsof data.”
Letting him go, I stood to take off my pants. But when I tried to settle back into his lap, his expression changed, the heat in his gaze fading. “Elanie, wait.”
“Wait?” His body seemed ready, and mine definitely was. “Wait for what?”
His sigh was so deep I could have fallen into it. “Before we do this again, there’s something we need to talk about.”
28.SEM
You are an idiot.A very stupid man. You make horrible choices, and your timing is terrible.
While my subconscious read me the riot act, I fisted my hands at my sides so I wouldn’t accidentally lift her up and sheath myself inside her before I said what I needed to say.
“What do we need to talk about?” she asked, a little annoyed, a lot gorgeous, and entirely naked.
Idiot.
“I think,” I started, then changed course. “I’m worried.”
“What about?”
“The Ignisar.”
“You’re worried about theIgnisar?”
“Yes. Now that I’m gone, they don’t have an in-person physician aboard the ship.”
Her fingertip traced idle lines over my collarbone. “You don’t think they’ve found a new one?”
“Ah. Good point.” Roadblock, reroute. “Do you still like it here? In Thura?”
